1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a collapsible, disposable container for holding foodstuffs, and more specifically to such a container which may be foldably assembled from a section of substantially rigid, flat stock material, which collapses flat for storage, and which easily expands to an open operable position for containing foodstuffs. More particularly, the present invention relates to such a container which is dimensioned, constructed and arranged to be stably insertable into a standard vehicle cup holder without deformation, which has an improved ergonomic design which may be easily gripped, and which may optionally include a smaller, secondary body for containing supplemental foodstuffs, such as condiments.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Foodstuff containers are well known, with typical applications related to the fast food industry. There are many known foodstuffs containers which are made from a folded unitary piece of paperboard or other somewhat rigid flat material, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,324. These types of containers may additionally be made foldably collapsible for shipping, storage, or other purposes, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,185,764 and 5,720,428. However, the known foldably collapsible foodstuff containers are not able to be stably inserted into a standard vehicle cup holder without deformation, and do not have an ergonomic design allowing them to be easily gripped.
There are also many known containers having a circular base which will fit within a standard vehicle cup holder, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,358,175; 5,427,269; and 5,433,337. These containers are not collapsible for shipping or storage, and cannot be foldably assembled from a unitary flat piece of material.
Furthermore, there are many known collapsible foodstuffs containers which also have a secondary receptacle or other means for containing supplemental foodstuffs; such as condiments, or which support a supplemental foodstuffs container. Some such containers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. D373,081; 5,417,364; 5,540,333; and 5,875,957. These containers are not formed or folded from a unitary flat piece of material, but require additional processing to attach an additional wall, pocket, or other means to support or contain supplemental foodstuffs.
There are also known foodstuffs containers provided with a tear panel, which may be torn away to provide additional access to the foodstuffs, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,235, but they do not provide a tear panel which can be folded or otherwise formed into a supplemental foodstuffs container.
Although the known collapsible and disposable foodstuffs containers are effective for their intended purposes, there remains a need in the art for such a container which is simply constructed from a single, flat blank, but which may be easily fitted into a standard vehicle cup holder without substantial deformation, and which has an improved ergonomic design to allow for easy gripping thereof.